Walmart adds meal kits that cook in 15 minutes with 1 pan

Walmart is partnering with a meal-kit provider to bring more variety to the table.

San Francisco-based Gobble is now selling its meal kits on Walmart’s website. The pre-measured kits are one of the methods traditional grocery stores are using to keep up with the Amazon and Whole Foods merger that shook the grocery industry last year.

The kits are trending across industries right now. Walmart already had its own meal-kit brand; Kroger acquired meal-kit company Home Chef earlier this year; Chick-fil-A recently announced it would offer meal kits from some restaurants during a pilot phase.

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Subscription services have grown quickly since 2014. But the industry’s growth is slowing as the concept matures, and individual companies have started to struggle.

Last year, the largest meal-kit company Blue Apron lost 20 percent of its traffic, according to a study by Hitwise. Chef’d abruptly closed its doors last month, and others like Sprig and Din have also shut down.

But subscription services that serve a niche are still growing more than other traditional boxes, according to Hitwise.

Gobble serves a niche market of those who are too busy to cook, with meals designed to take 15 minutes to prepare and only require one pan. It also offers gluten free, dairy free, low-carb and vegetarian options.